An Urban Teacher's Education: SOS Conference 2012, Day Two Morning

An Urban Teacher's Education: SOS Conference 2012, Day Two Morning:

SOS Conference 2012, Day Two Morning

by James Boutin

Driver takes a question during the opening session

This morning began with an address by Shanta Driver, the national director for the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equity By Any Means Necessary - more commonly known as BAMN.

Driver talked a lot about her experiences as an attorney and organizer in her hometown of Detroit, Michigan. She said that only one-third schools seven years ago are still operating today, and despite what she felt was a clear and obvious effort to push people out of the city (partly by closing public schools), many people have both refused to leave and refused the push for charter schools that have attempted to replace traditional public schools. Driver commented on the discovery of a secret committee with members even from the teachers union that met for some time in the name of finding ways to bring more charters to Detroit. She was clearly distressed that the AFT and NEA are not pushing politicians for the policies that teachers believe in, and lamented Joe Biden's speech at the AFT